A push for organ donors
Posted Apr 20, 2012 02:50:06 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
With more than 1,500 Ontarians waiting for organ or tissue transplants, the Trillium Gift of Life Network has launched a new campaign to attract donors.
It’s called the “Gift of 8 Movement” and the organization’s President and CEO, Ronnie Gavsie, says it’s a campaign that works on a more personal level.
You can create your own page at BeADonor.ca encouraging others to sign up as organ donors. “The results are tabulated in real time,” Gavsie says. “So, if you take out a page…you can watch by the minute as people register through your page.”
You can check out the Kitchener residents who’ve signed up at BeADonor.ca/kitchener.
In the City of Kitchener, just 28% of eligible residents have signed on as organ donors, along with just 25% percent in Cambridge. Both are above the provincial average of 21%.
Gavsie says signing up online takes just two minutes and all you need is your health card number. However, she says you should also tell your family your wishes because they’ll always be asked for consent. “Nearly 100% of the time, the family will consent to donation if they know that that was what their loved one wanted,” Gavsie says. “Only 50% of the time, the family will consent if their loved one did not register.”
tiffany.hendsbee@570news.rogers.com
